


Roadside Assistance

by hazelwho



Category: due South
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Gen, More Joy Day Fest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-11
Updated: 2013-02-11
Packaged: 2017-11-29 00:23:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/680553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazelwho/pseuds/hazelwho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frannie has car trouble.</p><p>A More Joy Day ficlet for Luzula, who wanted to see RayK and Frannie acting like siblings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Roadside Assistance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Luzula](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luzula/gifts).



Ray had just settled in for the evening. It was shaping up to be a pretty good one – he had the Hawks game on the tube and his feet on the coffee table. He balanced a Chinese take-out container on his thigh and cracked open a beer. Yeah, life was pretty good. Of course, his phone rang seconds after that.

He mentally ran through some possibilities as he crossed the room. Welsh yelling at him for something Vecchio did. His new partner calling to ask about his nose again. Stella saying she'd made a mistake. Sandor saying he knew Ray was cheating on him with Pagoda Dragon. None of them seemed very likely, except the Welsh thing, but it was 8pm and surely not even Welsh would call a man up during a hockey game to yell at him for something he didn't do? Not twice in the same week, at least.

"K-Vecchio," Ray answered, mentally kicking himself. It had been a few weeks already; his cover identity should be seamless.

"…Ray?" said a small feminine voice on the other end. It sounded vaguely familiar.

"Yeah?"

"Ray, it's, um, Frannie. I, uh…" she let out a frustrated sigh. "I've got a flat tire and I need my brother to come help me out, ok?"

"Yeah, Frannie, sure. I'm leaving now. Where are you?"

oOo

Ray pulled into the grocery store parking lot and spotted the blue Plymouth right away. Frannie was sitting on the curb next to it, wiping at her eyes. She sniffled and cleared her throat as Ray approached. Ray sat down beside her, knees pushed up almost to his chin, and Frannie attempted a smile.

"Hey," Ray said. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. It's just. My brother, he always took care of things. I never learned how to change a tire. I never had to. Ray knew how to change tires and how to replace the flash plugs. Ray would come jump my car and take it to get a new battery, and if I locked my keys in the car, Ray always had my spare. There were things I never bothered to figure out for myself because I didn't have to. I had a brother, and he was always, always there if I needed him. But now…" Frannie bit her lip, and when she continued, she was whispering. "Now he's gone."

Ray put his arm around Frannie's shoulders. "He'll be back."

Frannie sniffled again. "Listen to me. Ray is god-knows-where, and instead of worrying about his safety, I'm complaining that there's no one to come help me with the car."

"I'll come, Frannie. I mean. I'll teach you how to change a tire, if you want. But I'll also come whenever you call."

"Really? "

"Yeah, really. I never had a sister before, but I know how roadside assistance is part of the big brother gig." He squeezed her shoulders again. "Now, let's get this tire changed, okay?"

Ray explained what he was doing as he went, making jokes the whole time. After a few minutes, Frannie was laughing again. Fifteen minutes later, Ray slammed the trunk shut and wiped his hands on his jeans.

"You're a pretty good grease gorilla."

"Monkey, Frannie. Grease monkey."

"Whatever, you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I get you."

She smiled at him, a wide and genuine grin, and then she slugged him in the arm. "Thanks, bro."

"Anytime."

Ray watched until Frannie was out of sight down the street before getting back in his own car. When he got home that night, he pulled a filebox out of the very back of his closet and opened it up. He dug around in it until he found Vecchio's key ring. When he had first gotten them, he figured the only two he'd need would be the key to the Riv and the one to the house on Octavia. He had no idea what any of rest of them were for, but he added every one of them to his own key ring, just in case.

"I'll take care of them, Vecchio," Ray muttered. "You just do your job and come back in one piece, and I'll do my best here not to let anyone down."


End file.
